Skeletons missing hands and feet found in Hitler's Wolf's Lair

Record ID: 1816544

  • Title: Skeletons missing hands and feet found in Hitler's Wolf's Lair
  • Date: 3rd May 2024
  • Summary: GDANSK, POLAND (MAY 2, 2024) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Polish) MEMBER OF LATEBRA FOUNDATION, DOMINIK MARKIEWICZ, SAYING: "While working (on the site), we did not find the smallest sign of clothing, not a single sign of buckles, or buttons. There was nothing found next to the first remains. To our surprise, on the level of tibias, there was another skull. And then, the police
  • Embargoed: 17th May 2024 12:32
  • Keywords: Hitler Nazis Poland Wolf's Lair human remains skeletons
  • Location: GIERLOZ AND GDANSK, POLAND
  • City: GIERLOZ AND GDANSK, POLAND
  • Country: Poland
  • Topics: Europe,Human-Led Quirky,Human-Led Stories
  • Reuters ID: LVA004964802052024RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Five human skeletons - all missing their hands and feet - have been discovered at Nazi leader Adolf Hitler’s eastern front military headquarters in present-day Poland, buried inside the villa of Luftwaffe commander Hermann Goering.
    The bodies of three adults, a baby and an older child were discovered by a group called the Latebra Foundation, amateur archaeologists who have been excavating at the site with official permission for several years, group members and officials said.
    Latebra member Dominik Markiewicz told Reuters he never expected such a finding as "it was the most guarded place in the Third Reich".
    He added it was not clear whether the skeletons dated from World War Two, or had been brought there subsequently.
    Sebastian Trapik, deputy head of education and tourism promotion of Srokowo Forest District, the Polish government agency responsible for the site, told Reuters the bodies had been found buried just below the ground in a part of the building where there had once been a wooden floor.
    Daniel Brodowski, spokesperson for the prosecutor's office in nearby provincial capital Olsztyn, said an investigation had been opened and forensic investigators had examined the bodies under police supervision.
    The Wolf’s Lair served as one of Hitler's military headquarters during World War Two and consisted of some 200 structures covering an area of 250 hectares. It was destroyed by German Nazi forces as they retreated in early 1945 to prevent it falling into the hands of the approaching Soviet Red Army.
    What is left of the bunkers, shelters and barracks in the forest of Gierloz in northeastern Poland can now be visited by tourists. The home of Goering, who ran the Luftwaffe air force and became Germany's highest ranking military officer and Hitler's designated successor, has largely fallen into decay.
    Markiewicz said the burial site is unusual as it lacks clothes and limbs, with underage victims, leaving him puzzled about what happened.
    He said the significance of the location, Hermann Goering's former house, is ''very telling too."
    (Production Anna Lubowicka, Hedy Beloucif)
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